Improved car-wheel



' 2 Sheets--Sheet 1. E. SANIPSON.

Car Wheel.. No. 64,579'. v Paiememvlay 7,1867.

Witnesses= Inventr.

2 Sheetsr-Sheet 2. E. SANlP-SON.

Car Wheel.

No. 64.579. Patented lVlay 7, 1867.

Inventor.

AM. PHGTO-LITHUAO. NN. I GSBURNE'S PROCESS.)

uitrit glatte ste-nt @frn ELNATHAN SAMPSON.' OF LANSNGBURG, NEW YORK, ASSIGNOR TO HIM-- SELF AND EDWIN GHAMBERLIN, OF THE SAME PLAGE.

Letters Patent No. 64,579, dated M'ag/ 7, 186,7.

IMrnovnD y(nin-'warnt 'ro ALL WHoM rr MAY coNeERN; i

Be. it known that I, ELNATHAN SAMrS'N, of the town of Lansingburg, county of nRensselaer, and State of New York, have invented new and useful improvements in cast-iron or other cast-metal Wheels for Railroad Cars or other Cars; and I do hereby declarethatthe following is a full, clear, and exactdescription of the construction and object or operation of the' same, reference being hereby had to-the accompanying drawings, and to the letters of reference thereon marked. J

Like letters represent and refer to like or 'corresponding parts, as indicated upon thesad drawing-s.

Figure =1v represents a front elevation of two wheels containing my invention, and arranged upon what is known'as a car-axle, and in that order or condition as they will appear upon the railroad. track.

4 Figure 2 represents a vertical section through the centre line of the car-wheels and their axle, and showingv my invention herein described and set forth, as and in theV manner of the operation thereof when in use upon railroad rails at and upon. the curves in such roads,-a nd more fully described hereinafter.

Figure 3 represents a railroad car-wheellcontaining my said invention, and showing that part of such wheel knownl and called the tread of the wheel, or face, which moves and acts upon the upper surface of the railroad rails.

Figure 4 represents a section or portion of a railroad'car-wheel containing my said improvements, and upon an enlarged scale, and which is, or nearly so, the actual or full sizeof such wheels ready for useupon railroads.,

Hereto'fore, in the running of cars or trains of earsV upon railroads in this country, when, in the construction of lines of railways, it is, and has' been, imperatively necessary to build curves in different directions from an air line, and upon sharp 'or obtuse' lines, in order to gain any desired point or place, it .has been foundquite diilicult to move cars upon and over such curves without great strain ina twisting form of and on the car-axle, and a somewhat sliding of the wheels upon the outside rail of the curve, and thus straining in an undue manner such wheels moving thus upon. such outer rail, as well as .unduly wearing the tread surface thereof by such partial sliding, and also, and at the same time, and by the same means, unduly wearing of the tread surface of such railroad raihwhich diiliculties. have always proven very destructive to ear-trucks and the machinery thereiinns well as destructive to rails used upon such roads, and also exposing the moving train of cars to great dangers or accidents when and while passing such curves," as it is a well-known fact that the wheels of a train of ears which pass over the rail upon the outer side of such curves pass over more space or a greater distance than those wheels which pass over the inner side rail thereof,A and each wheell being permanently fastened'upou each end of the respective car-axles, no opportunity is given to either wheel to conform tothe distance travelled A by the other, so as to 'prevent such sliding of the wheels upon the greater curve, and to prevent such straining and twisting of such car-axle, in the ma'nner as aforesaid stated.

By my invention and improvements all of the aforesaid difficulties are overcome to a much greater degree, and in a more perfect manner, than ever obtained heretofore by any known device or plan.y It isbmanifest that if the sliding of the carwheels passing over the outer and inner rails of such curve can be prevented, or in a great measure prevented, while the train is moving onward -at any speed in which a. train of cars ordinarily moves with passengers or with freight, and such outer wheels pass theouter rail in vthe same time that the inner wheels pass over the inner-rail of such curve without greater strain than is necessarily upon .the inner wheels, and, of course, without any twisting-like str ain upon the axle containing'such inner and outer wheels of such curve, kthat a very useful, valuable, and important invention and improvement has been made. Such is the nature and object of my invention herein contained and described and s et forth.

To enable others skilled in the art to make and to put into use and operation my said invention and improvements, I will here proceed to describe the construction .and mode or manner of the operation thereof, and whichv is substantially as follows, to wit:

I make my said car-wheel of cast iron of any kind or `quality deemed best to use for that purpose, or it i -may be made of cast steel or of semi-cast steel, as the case may be. I'make the face or tread surface of the car-wheel of such form ,and shape that its outline from the front part of the wheel to the flange upon the inside' part of the whccl will be that of an obtuse angle, and the said angle may terminate in a slight curve or otherwise as it falls into the front flange line. One line of this obtuse angle is a horizontal line, or nearly so, commencing at or near a point on the front of the wheelfrunning thence back to any distance which may be required or deemed best, while the other line of the angle will commence at the termination of the horizontal,v4

and continuevto rise at an angle of about thirty degrees, or to another degrce'which in practice may be thought `or found best to use, and it will then terminate in the ila-nge of the wheel by a small curve or otherwise, asthe case may be. Therefore A A, figs. l, 2, and 3, represent a car-wheel, the same in material and construction as now in use, with the exception that it is constructed with a horizontal line, a, on the tread surface, which determines the smallest diameter of the wheel, and the angle line, c, which rises up from the said line a at about anl angle of (30) thirty degrees, as aforesaid, and its highest point is its largest diameter, as is fully shown infiig.`

3. This angle falls into curve as represented at o, fig. 4, and terminates in and into the angefupon the inside of the said wheel A, same'figure.V When the cars are moving on-an air-line, or nearly so, track, the horizontal lines a g of theftread surface of the car-wheels will, of course, bear upon the upper surface of tlie'railroad rails, substantially as seen at r r, iig. 1, and when such cars are moving upon and around a curve 'in the road track, the horizontal line a, or smallest diameter of the wheel, will bear upon the inner rail, while the angle c,

or the larger diameter, will bear upon the outerrail, and thus and thereby form a cone, as it were, rotating in a curvilinear line, and thereby preventing any undue strain upon any of the carwheels or car-axles while passing such curve in the railroad, and also preventing any unnatural sliding o'r slipping of the car-wheels while passing such curve in such track, and also prevents any undue strain in and upon the journal or car-axle boxes of the trucks. i

There are many advantages in and by this construction'of a railroad car-wheel, as will appear from the foregoing description, and I will here procecdto sum up some of them in the following manner, to wit:

First. By such construction there will be formed two distinct diameters on one or the same wheel. For example, an ordinary carfwheel would be about two feet and ten inches in diametcr,a11d with my aforesaid invention applied thereto there would be another diameter of about three feet or three feet and one inch in diameter, while between these extreme diameters will appear the cone-like or conical surface,giving thereby many medium diameters, and for the purposes as aforesaid, in the passing of cars upon and iaround curves in the road.

Second; When the train or cars are moving upon an air-line track, on nearly so, the said obtuse angle or cone-shaped surface c will prevent, to a very great degree, any and all swaying to and fro of cars containing wheels of the ordinary construction. i i

Third. The two extreme diameters and consequent media being self-adapting to the length of the curve being passed, insuresithe axle against torsion and breakage.

Fourth. The tendency to equal diameters, orto the horizontal lines or surface of the tread of the wheel, and described hereinbefore, reacts against the pushing tendency against the rail when turning a curve, thus lessening the liability of running off the track, or of breaking the track rail, as is now quite often the case with the car-wheels new in use, the flanges of the wheels being crowded or forced against the rail of the outer curve, the flanges themselves being the Yonly protection against the wheels running off the rails, and even this protection is attained at the risk of breaking the track rail.

Car-wheels containing my said invention and improvements will be 'cast in the usual way or manner of casting car-wheels, and, of course', may be of any size or weight desirable.

Having thus described my invention and improvements in cast-iron railroad car-wheels, what I claim, and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States of America, is-

A railroad car-wheel having the conical tread surface c, cast with the fiat tread surface a, and with the guiding-ilangcf, in the manner and for the purposes substantially as herein described and set forth.

i ELNATI-IAN SAMPSON.

lVitncsses:

ALEXANDER Snminin, JAMES J. CLARK. 

